In 1983 the Prince of Wales came to Canada for the first time with his dazzling new bride, Diana. They were a fairy-tale couple and the nation swooned, not only for the new princess but for Prince Charles himself, previously the world's most eligible bachelor.

"He's gorgeous! He shook my hand," shouted a pair of giddy teenage girls to a television reporter in Newfoundland, where Charles and Diana had stopped to sprinkle some royal stardust before heading home to Britain.

Twenty-six years later, Charles returns to Newfoundland and three other provinces on Monday, bringing for the first time Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall. Both are in their 60s, both have endured years of personal setbacks and sorrow at the centre of tabloid scandals and on this royal tour neither will be treated like the superstars Charles and Diana once were.

Their official tour will span 11 days and 12 cities — including St. John's, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Vancouver and Victoria — but nobody expects large throngs of excited crowds to come out and greet them. Recent opinion polls suggest most Canadians, even those who accept the Crown, are ambivalent about the grey-haired heir to the Canadian throne and his consort.

Pity, say historians and friends of the monarchy. Those who know Charles or have studied him say he is a man of substance and great achievement, in spite of popular opinion to the contrary.

They also say that whatever our personal views toward the couple, the Prince of Wales is an important constitutional figure for Canada. As heir to the Crown, they say, he embodies the life of our democracy and the preservation of our freedoms, and for that he deserves our respect and attention.

"Most people think he's a nitwit, that he's not very smart," says Jacques Monet, a Jesuit priest, historian and professor at the University of Toronto.

"But I know academics and businessmen who have met him, and all say he is so up to date on everything, that he has many important contacts, and that his opinions are very well founded. People who meet him are generally very impressed."

Ken Bird, a retired Ontario schoolteacher, delivered the toast to Prince Charles last week at the annual dinner of the Canadian Royal Heritage Trust, whose members promote and preserve Canada's royal history.

"At the boomer age of 61," Bird told the dinner, "Charles seems relatively relaxed and content. He appears very comfortable in his own shoes."

In an interview this week, Bird said Charles has been badly treated by the media and therefore most people forget the enormous scope of his accomplishments: He has flown fighter jets, trained as a paratrooper and piloted helicopters off the deck of a carrier. He also commanded a minesweeper as an officer in the Royal Navy.

When he travels to Petawawa, Ont., next month to speak to the next contingent of Canadian soldiers preparing to leave for Afghanistan, he will address them not as a stuffy royal visitor, but as a fellow soldier, sailor and airman.

Beyond his military service, Charles has reached out in the Arab world for improved relations between Muslims and Christians. He is also a children's author, a watercolour artist and organic farmer. Every year his 20 charitable organizations raise roughly $260 million for health, education and environmental work around the world, a vast sum that rarely receives headlines.

In a speech last July, after years of quietly advocating environmental causes, Charles made a loud and heartfelt plea for action to address the threat of climate change.

"He's a futurist," says Bird. "He realizes the damage we're doing to the Earth, and he wants to see that change before it's too late.

"Canadians do not realize the value we have in this man."

Bird also says if Charles ascends to the throne, he will be Canada's first "modern" sovereign.

"He realizes the monarchy has to change," he says. "One area is religion — he feels he should not be defender of the faith, but defender of the faiths, that his job should expand to defend all religious faiths, not just the Anglican Church. I think he understands that very well."

As for Camilla, it's high time Canadians got to know her, says Garry Toffoli, Canada's foremost royal historian. He says Charles wanted to introduce Camilla to this country in 2005, by adding a Canadian stopover during the couple's first official visit to the United States, but then-prime minister Paul Martin ruled out the trip because he feared there might be a federal election underway.

Now that they're finally coming, Toffoli says it would be unfair for Canadians to judge Camilla by the standards of Diana.

"Diana was stunning. Like everybody else, I was bowled over by her and I don't have the same reaction to Camilla," he says.

"But I hope we'll start judging Camilla on her own terms. I've heard that she's a very charming person, very engaging. She may come out of this tour with a very enhanced image among Canadians."

It's important to remember, says Toffoli, that Charles and his family are not foreigners. Like the Queen, Charles is a Canadian citizen, and the purpose of any such tour is not only to show royals to Canadians, but to show the country to itself.

"When he goes to Petawawa, the media will be there, and there'll be coverage about the Canadian Forces that are going to Afghanistan," says Toffoli. "In Newfoundland, they'll be going to the town of Cupids. People across the country will be asking, 'Where is Cupids?' We forget that about the royals — that they can teach us about ourselves."

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